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| Basic foodstuffs | Vegetable

Endive (Cichorium endiva) is a leafy salad vegetable. It is often confused with chicory.

There are three main varieties of endive: Belgian endive, curly endive and escarole.

Belgian endive (also known as French endive and witloof) has a small head of cream-coloured bitter leaves. It is grown in complete darkness to avoid the leaves turning green.

Curly endive (sometimes mistakenly called chicory in the United States) has green rimmed curly outer leaves.

Escarole has broad, pale green leaves and is less bitter than the other varieties